Freight-car door



Aug. 24, 1926. 1,597,019

. E. w. e. KUGLEY FREIGHT GAR DOOR I I lm Euron ydt rgffiii E War 211 mA TTORNEYS Aug. 24 1926;

E. W. G. KUGLEY FREIGHT CAR DOOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 19, 1923INVENTOR WITNESSES A ITORNE Y8 Patented Aug. 24, 1926.

sevwa PATENT o Fries.

narrsn era-res EDW'AR-D WILLIAM GRIFFIN K'UGLEY, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH-CABOLTNA.

rnnrerrr-oan noon.

Application filed. June 19, 1923. Serial No. 645,389.

a freight car door in either an open orclosed position which is equallyadaptable for use on both a single and double door.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed de scription taken in connection with the"accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, withtheunderstanding, however, that the invention is not confined to any strictconformity with the showing in the drawing, but may be changed andmoditied so long as such changes and modifications mark no materialdeparture from the salie t pressed in the appended In the drawing:- I iFig. 1 is a side elevation 01: a freight, car with my invention appliedto the sliding claim.

' car doors.

2 is a vertical transverse section or the same. i Y

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the track which slidably supports thecar doors.

Fig. i is a view in perspective of the automatic latching means.

5 discloses detail views of the brackets in which the operating rod forthe latches is mounted. 4

Fig. 6 discloses detail views of the sockets "for receiving the latchingmeans.

7 shows a front and end elevation of th hangers for slidably mountingthe doors on t 1e car.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates areight car with a side openingclosable by liding doors 2 and 3, or a single door may e employed forthe purpose when desired. irectly above the opening and on the outer.all e of the side of the car is secured a water guard 5 whichextendslengthwise ot the car. As shown in 3, the waterguard is of angleiron construction with the flange secured to the wall of the car, whilethe other flange extends horizontally at right angles to the verticalflange for supporting the track 6. Spacer blocks 7 are likewisesupported by the horizontal flange and positioned between the track 6and the vertical flange o1 the water guard;

The track 6 and spacer blocks 7 are secured teatres of the invention asera by means of bolts or screws to the side wall of the car.

The doors are suspended from the tracks by means of cast iron hangers 8secured adjacent the upper ends of the doors with rollers 9 rotatablymounted between the front plate of the cast iron hanger 8 and a rearreturn POIL-lOll 1O spaced from the front plate of the hanger 8. Therollers 9 are mounted on pins 11 secured in the U-shaped portion of thehanger. In order that the doors may ride'easily on the tracks 6, I haveprovided two grooved rollers in each hanger 8. v

The lower end ofthe doors is held in position and prevented frommovement laterally from the side of the car by a guard rail 12 which islikewise of angle iron construction and secured to the outer wall 4 ofthe car.

Posts or door jambs 13 and 14 are mount ed vertically in the. side wall4i of the carv and spaced from each other a distance to be spanned bythe width of either door 2 or 3. 1

A rod 15 is rotatably mounted on the outer side wall of the door 2bymeans of a pair of brackets 16 secured on said door and adjacent themedial line of said door. A pair of spaced brackets 17 and 18 aresecured to the door 2 adjacent the side edges.

On the opposite ends of the rotatable rod 15 are securedinwardly-projecting latch members 19 and 20 having upstanding lugs 21for a purpose which will be described later. Secured centrally ot therod 15 and depending downwardly therefrom is a hasp 22 wi'tha slot 23 inits lower end adapted to receive a. U-shaped or perforated keeper 2%.The U-shaped member 25. is adapted to be inserted through the keeper 2l'tor maintaining the hasp 22 in position. A chain 26 secured at one endto the car door 2, and at its other end to the U-shaped member isadapted to prevent loss of said U-shaped member. I

The latch. members 19 and 20 may be welded or pinned to the ends of therotatable rod 15, while the hasp 22 is welded to the central portion otsaid rod and adapted to be oscillated between the brackets 16. Thebrackets 17 and 18 are provided with laterally-extending lugs 2'? whichproject beyond the side edges of the car door 2 and ver the keepers 28and 29, which are provided with pockets adapted to receive the latchmembers 19',- the lugs 27 limiting movement of the latch members 19 and29. The

keepers 29 are provided with an upper and lower pocket 30 and 31,respectively.

As shown in Fig. 6, a face plate 32 extending outwardly from the sideedges of thepockets 30 and 31 is adapted to be secured to the posts 13and 14 when the pockets 30' 31 and provides a keeper adapted to engagethe lugs 21 of the latch members 19 and for preventing outward movementof the doors when the lugs are so engaged with the respective keepers,whether the doors are in open or closed position.

As shown in Fig. 1, the keeper 28 on the left hand end of the door 2,which is engaged by the latch member 19, is located at a higherelevation than the keeper 28 engaged by the latch member 20 on the door3;

The rotatable rod, 15, with its latch members 19 and 20 and the hasp 22.of the door 2, is similarly applied to the door 3 with the Xception thatthe rotatable rod 15 is located at a lower plane than the rod 15 of thedoor 2 so that the latch member 19 of the door 3 will engage inthe lowerpockets31 of the keepers 29 instead of the upper pockets, as do thelatch members, 20.

In the operation ofmy automatic latch-- ing means, the U-shaped memberis removed fromthe keeper 24 when the hasp 22.

may be elevated, thereby rotating the rod 15 and causing the latchmembers 19 and 20 to be oscillated suiiiciently until they engage thelugs 2"? on thebrackets 17 and 18, whereby further movement of the latchmembers will be prevented. In this positionof the latchmembers, thedooris free to be moved longitudinally of the car and carriedby thehangers 8 on the track 6.

Then the door 2 is moved sui'liciently to the right to close theopening, shown in Fig. 1,. after the latch members 19 and 20 havebeenreleased-i'rom their respective keepers, latch member 20 willautomatically fall into the pocket at the left hand edge of the door 3,while the keeper. 19 will fall into pocket- 30'now located at the lefthand edge of door 2 in its present. position. The" latches are urged tolocking position by the weightot the released hasp 22. The lugs 21 Thekeeper 28,. which is located to the right hand side of of the latchesengaged by thelips 33 projecting over the mouths of the pockets 30, notonly lock the door from sliding movement but: likewise prevent thebottom of the lease of the hasp 22 whereby door 3 will be lockedagain'strt'urther movement.

It is seen from the relative predetermined positions of the cooperatingkeepers 2,8 and 29 upon oppositev sides oi" eachdoor and especially ofthe spacing of the keepers 29 adjacent the inner sides of! saiddoors'that the doors maybe locked with facility in" either a closedioropen position.

Furthermora the spacing of the latches 19' and 2.0 equalingthespacingofthe keepers 29 upon opposite sides of the opening in the side wall 4' ofthe caris a dominant'tactor in establishing the locked posit-ions,whether closed or open, oithe sliding car doors;

What is claimed is In a device of the character described, co-

operative doors slidableon tracks, spaced brackets secured to each door,a rod rotatably mounted in the brackets on eaehdoor,

arod on one door being located above the rod on the other door, latchessecured to the opposite ends of each rod and adapted to normally projectinwardly from opposite side edges of a door, a hasp rigidly connectedtoeach-rod for. rotating the same and for maintaining the latches in thenormal inward position, a. keeper on the doors adapted to be engaged bythe hasps for locking the hasps against movement to prevent rotation ofthe rods and releasing; the doors, keepers mounted in a fixed positionrelativeto the doors and in the path of the latches located in differenthorizontal planes forreceiving said'latcheswhen the'doors are-either inan open or a closed position, the keepers for engaging the latches beingprovided with means at different horizontal levels to -engagethe'latches located at different levels-on the doors, lugs on thebrackets projecting laterally from the sides of'the door for limitingthe latches to a ready latching position withtheir respective keepers.

EDWARD WILLIAM" GRIFFIN KUGLEY.

The door 2 must.

